| January 11, 2002 |
John Ray |
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| For those of you reading this, I would like to assure you that I am alive, that The Dojo in Denton is doing well, and that the past 4 months have been CRAZY. First, I lost the ability to modify my web page through my FTP program, which I had finally figured out. I have found(I hope) another way to get into this, but I haven't figured out how to get graphics up (easily), so it will be a little while before I can get pictures up of events. I don't have time to elaborate, but in future writings will describe 1) karate kyu test 2) iaido Visit by Huff-sensei and shodan shiken 3) week trip to Japan and visit for training with Ikeda-soke 4)upcoming karate koshukai in California with Shinjo-sensei 5) upcoming instruction in Houston by Tanida-sensei 6)possible visit by Peter Kellogg 7)Hatsu-nuki ceremony at dawn 1/1/02 8)First sanchin kata at dawn 1/1/02 9) upcoming visit by Eisaka-sensei, 10 dan and 10) a couple of new, interesting web sites. I promise to get back to this page soon. Later.
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Wow! Is this summer almost over, or what! I knew it was going to be busy, but now that it is over, I am still catching my breath from all of the things I have done and interesting people I have met. Since I last wrote (2 months ago), I have had 2 major trips and 2 major visitors to The Dojo. As my visitors were both Uechi-ryu folks, I'll start with the karate report:
We started with a very successful, very hard-hitting kyu exam on July 25. We shrunk to a small, but enthusiastic group over the summer. I was very pleased with the test, as were the other 2 examiners, Gregg Weber, and Tom Thomas. A week later we were pleased to host Mike Nazar, from the Austin Dojo. Mike has a particularly hard-hitting brand of Uechi-ryu and his visits never fail to pump everyone up.... even on a Saturday morning. Thanks Mike.
A week later, we were thrilled to have a very special visitor, Peter Kellogg-sensei. I trained under Peter for a year in Austin in the mid-80's, and much of what he taught me is the basis for the brand of Uechi-ryu taught at The Dojo. His skill and knowledge were inspirational to everyone who joined us. There are so few people with such finely trained hands and feet on this planet, either Japanese or Westerners. It is always a treat to see him in action and hear stories about his 28 years of training at the Kadena Dojo under the Shinjo family. I am proud to call Peter both Sensei and friend, as well as have his picture proudly hanging on The Dojo's Shomen wall. Thank you, Sensei!
Only two weeks after that, Karen, Paul, Bill, J.B., Tom, and I headed for Atlanta for the Okinawan World Tournament. I was proud of the number of my folks accepting the costs and inconveniences of travelling so far to improve their karate. I am certain that Karen was the only white belt in the Uechi-ryu group, and Bill and Paul were 2 of only a few green belts. Congratulations Team Texas on your extra efforts! I was delighted to train under Tomoyose-sensei and Nakahodo-sensei. I first met Tomoyose-sensei a couple of years ago in Houston, but Nakahodo-sensei and I go back 25 years, to the Kadena Dojo, where he was Seiyu Shinjo-sensei's senior student. He reminds me of Seiyu Shinjo-sensei in many ways. I was also happy to meet many Uechi/Shohei-ryu seniors, some old friends, some new ones: J. Thompson, G. Mattson, W. Mattson, B. Durkin, J. Ceria, G. Gandra, VK. Manoharan, M. Brelsford, N. Dunnigan, M. Shahkar., S. Goss, D. Joiner, A. Wharton, G. Khoury, B. Spoon, K. Washington, B. Glasheen, B. Hirbayashi. I was especially happy to see old friends, Mike Nazar, Joan Neide, Jim and Niki Foley, and their students(Chris, Kevin, Will, and Wendy). I enjoyed watching the tournament and found the sparring to be, all in all, exciting and enthusiastic. Congratulations to Mike Nazar on a 2nd in Uechi-ryu kata. Your hard work shows. We had a great time exploring some of the more interesting sites of Atlanta. This week finds everyone who went to
Atlanta tired, but fired up for Uechi-ryu.
Iaido has also been busy this past couple of months. I was honored to be asked by Kim Taylor to join an interesting group of sword folks to present at his Guelph Japanese Sword School July 20. Again, it was great to see old friends and meet new ones with the same interest. Kim, Karl Friday, Don Cunningham, Michael Alexanian, Peter Boylan, Goyo Ohmi, Tetsu Nakamura, Debra Klens-Bigman, and Chris Gilham all added to a very interesting, very intense weekend of Japanese sword arts. Here are some photos of that event. I was also very happy to meet Kuniko Kinoshita-Cyr sensei and compare her form of Eishin-ryu with my own and Ohmi-sensei's. That was a VERY interesting experience. A lot of questions were raised (and I hope, answered) in that session. I enjoyed the after demo party at the pub and thank Kim for including me in his plans. Here at The Dojo we are planning on a sushi party in the near future and a special visitor from Japan this spring. Finally, I would like to introduce the world to my good friend, Vout Verschueren, and his web page from Belgium. Congratulations Vout.
More later.
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| I am doing better..... I'd like to give a little report on what is going on down at The Dojo in the karate classes now. Mostly we have just been working hard. Uechi-ryu, is a very physical system. We do a lot of conditioning (both strength and impact work), especially hands, fingers, toes, forearms, shins, legs, fists, and stomach. Within reason (and this is something that much be watched VERY carefully by me), I expect everyone to leave practice either sore or tired....I know I do. Of course this has to be introduced slowly and carefully. Also, it is critical that the core of the workout center around kata.... this is why we are Uechi-ryu. Everyone is looking great. We are looking forward to traveling to Atlanta in August to train with Senseis Tomoyose and Nakahodo, two of the most senior members of Uechi-ryu. I am also happy to say that a video is out featuring Shinjo Kiyohide-sensei, Shinjo Narihiro-sensei, and Toyama-sensei (10 dan and Uechi Kanbun's last remaining student.) It also has segments on Shorin-ryu and Goju-ryu and promises to be one of the best traditional karate videos ever. There is a preview here at this site. Enjoy. More later.
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Well..... here I am 3 months later, a little embarrassed about how long it has been since I've updated this page, but still wondering how I can even find time now to do it. I HAVE BEEN BUSY... AND CONTINUE TO BE... with family, work, and dojo. My kids are on vacation, but with swim team, family trips, and baseball season, I feel like I have been busier than ever... That being true, I have still been VERY busy with events related to martial arts. I'll jump right in with reports:
First, the last of April found 4 of the 6 ZNIR(All Japan Iaido Assn)/Seitokai teachers in the U.S. in Denton for the First Texas Iaido Enbu....they were Greg Huff, 6 dan, D.C area; Scott Irey, 5 dan, Seattle; Andrej Diamandstein, 4 dan, Berkeley; and myself. Satellite dojo members came in from Fayetteville, Baton Rouge, and Houston. We had 2 great days of insruction by the visiting senseis followed by an enbu presented by all present. It was truly some of the best Eishin-ryu iaido ever seen together outside of Japan. Will Schutt has some picturesof the event up at. We all had a wonderful visit, introduced Shiner Beer, and enjoyed Tex-mex, steaks, and country music. All in all a great weekend with great people.
Next, 2 weeks later, I again joined Scott Irey, along with 10 of my students for our second year at the San Antonio Sword Show, hosted by Dr. Diane Mirro. I especially enjoyed taking the weekend off with my wife, Denise. We left the kids up in Denton with good friends and had a nice weekend alone (well, er, if you call my connecting with about 20 old budo friends "alone".) I really enjoyed the show this year, both in the sword sales room and the martial arts demo room. I especially enjoyed seeing old friends, Rick Polland and his group from Maryland, Diane Mirro, David Cooper, and, of course, Scott. It was my pleasure to meet Messrs. Russel McCartney, Dave Drawdy, and Carl McClafferty. I think the demos this year were better than last year, and Dr. Mirro is to be commended for her hard work. Will Schutt also placed some photos at his site. I know all of us from Denton had a great time, and learned a little bit more about swords and budo. Most of the demos were very informative and impressive. I'll talk about one controversial perfomer later in this entry. Thank you to all who made the trip so great!
Finally, to add to my fun (and a little stress level rise....), I flew up to Victoria, Canada to train under Eisaka Seigen, 10 dan, ZNIR/Eishin-ryu Seitokai. I was VERY happy to be receiving instruction from such a fine representative of both sword technique, and budo kokoro (heart). I have been fortunate to have trained under Eisaka-sensei since 1981. He was a legend even then. I was also please to reconnect with my friends from Canada, their sensei, Ted Davis, as well as Denny, Peter, Hiro, Marty, but especially, my friend Greg Williams. All of the Canadian folks are so kind to us Texans, but Greg and his wife, work so hard to make me feel at home and enjoy my stay. THANK YOU GREG AND CAROL. YOU SHOW ME THE TRUE SPIRIT OF BUDO BY YOUR SELFLESS KINDNESS! I also had a great time seeing Andrej and Scott again (Scott, I've seen more of you than my kids this past couple of months....). I cannot say enough about the kindness and spirit shown me by the group in Canada, led, naturally by Eisaka-sensei. I would be remiss in neglectin to mention my appreciation to both Kaneda-sensei and Mr. Raj Sakura. What very nice people they were to me. I heard from my students (from Houston) that their instruction was both very precise and kind. I was especially happy to meet Raj, a British fellow who has been studying under Eisaka-sensei for 8 years. His Japanese was a real help for all of us trying to get fine shades of meaning to and from Eisaka-sensei. Thank you, Raj.
I was definitely buzzed from my training under Eisaka-sensei. He worked SO very hard for us... I will do my best to pass along his thoughts. Here is a photo of Ted, Sensei, and myself. And finally, here is photo of Mike (from Canada), Andrej, myself, Scott, and Wout (my new best friend from Belgium), and Greg Williams. Thank you to all for a wonderful trip.
I will write about Karate on another entry very soon, I promise. later.
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Wow! Have 6 months gone by since I have added anything to this column? Well, I'd like to report that I and The Dojo are alive and well down here in Denton, Texas. Things have actually been fairly calm since last summer's karate get-together in Austin and the iaido group's trip to train with Yamashita-sensei in Japan. Before I report on the activities of the two groups I'd like to let the world (if anyone is reading) know that as I near the 1/2 century mark in my life I have 1)just returned from a ski resort in New Mexico with my family, where I spent 5 great days skiing, snowmobiling, and horse riding... with few additional aches and pains, and 2) I started my 2001 New Year's Resolution this afternoon, by jogging (about 1 mile) for the first time in 10 years, again relatively painlessly..... I will not enter dotard-hood easily.....
First, in karate, I would like to congratulate everyone on the successful test we had a couple of weeks ago. I am especially very proud of J.B. Flurry, who has become the first ikkyu (just below black belt) trained here at The Dojo. He had a great visit with Joan Neide-Knox of Sacramento, an old friend of mine from Okinawa. We are still a small group, but I think we are on the right path: we are trying to produce well-rounded karate people, skilled in fighting, well conditioned, fit, and well-balanced both physically and mentally. We base our training on solo kata, followed by conditioning, and also paired work, both pre-arranged and free. We are tentatively planning to visit with Nakahodo-sensei and Tomoyose-sensei in Atlanta in mid-August. Details can be found at this site. I am also pleased to announce the possible visit of my friend and teacher from Okinawa, 6 dan, Peter Kellogg, in May. Finally, I have recently come across a site with very nice pictures of a young Kanei Uechi. The shots can be found on Dave Sargent's page.
Second, (I apologize for getting sidtracked again....) I would like to say something about iaido and what is going on down at our Dojo concerning the sword arts this past 6 months. We have pretty much been plugging along during the lull months of fall and winter. As we approach spring and summer, we are looking a a wide variety of events and locations to improve our swordsmanship. April 20-22 promises to be one of the most exciting events ever in The Dojo..... three special guests of ZNIR iaido, Greg Huff-6 dan, Scott Irey-5 dan, and Andrej Diamandstein-5 dan, all Japanese trained sensei will be here sharing their experience with us all. May 19 will find many of us at the San Antonio Sword Show performing enbu along with many of the top swordsmen and women of Texas, including my old friend, Rick Polland. Less than a week later (May 25-28), I hope to fly to Victoria, B.C. to train with Eisaka-sensei, ZNIR Eishin-ryu 10 dan, and one of the finest swordsman/gentleman on the planet. The next month, June 15, I will be visiting my good friend, Tom Stout, of Fayetteville, to teach iaido at his martial arts camp. Finally, I will be joining an old friend, Kim Taylor, in Guelph, Ontario, for his School of Sword Arts. I am looking forward to seeing a lot of old friends there, including Bill Mears, Goyo Ohmi, and Michael Alexanian. I am also very excited about meeting other old friends and making new ones. Finally, in iaido, I have been given permission to link to two sites with plenty of pictures of Seminars here at The Dojo and our summer iaido trip to Japan. They are Will Schutt's page, and Jean Mankoff's pictures of iaido , including our first draw at dawn, Jan. 1, 2001, and pictures from ourJapan 2000 trip.
Finally, I would like to say that I promise to stay a little more on top of this and to provide info on what is going on in The Dojo, as well as give some views on both arts.... more later.
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First, and most important, happy birthday to my son, Travis... a very wonderful 9 years of my life!
Next, we are slowly but surely getting into the new Dojo. Here are some photos taken and donated by Jean Mankoff of the developing Dojo. Thank you Jean. Will include some finished product shots soon.
Would just like to comment on how much I enjoyed training with Emily Egan from Houston in iaido. She has been a real trooper to make that drive in and train on the same day. Keep up the great work, Emily. More later.
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We've moved! We are still not completely up and running, but thanks to the help from the members, we are moving toward that point VERY quickly. I can't even begin to name names, but I have to publicly thank Tom Thomas' donation of the kicking bag frame as one of the kindest (out of many) acts Tom as done for me and the group at The Dojo. Thank you, Tom. Will get some photos of the Dojo coming together as I get them.
I received some new photos from David Powel of the Okinawan visit. These are shots of myself, Peter Kellogg-sensei, Kiyohide Shinjo-sensei, and Narihiro Shinjo-sensei. The top shots were taken at Shuri Castle, the oldest structure on Okinawa. The second set of shots of the iaido visit was taken by Koshiba Kenji-sensei and include our training and my reception of my nanadan certificate at the Yachiyo Dojo and more from our sushi party and our host Kogushi Osamu-sensei. Thanks to both of you for your kindness and fine pictures. More later.
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Life is not slowing down much for me this summer. Things just keep moving... and I'm not complaining.
The first thing I want to talk about is something that has dominated my life for the past 6 weeks.... colon cancer. I had perfect symptoms about 6 weeks ago and avoided what had to be done most of the summer. I didn't want my health to interfere with my well-planned summer. This could have been my undoing and is apparently a common reaction of people faced with an uncertain future..... denial. I can't even remember how many sleepless nights I had because of the very strange thoughts that creep into your head in the middle of the night. I did, however, finally go ahead and have a colonoscopy last week. I'm OK, thank God, and hope to be around a while longer to see my kids .... and my Dojo grow up. I am much more appreciative for what I have and more determined than ever to pass my budo experience on. I hope that anyone, both men and women, approaching the half-century mark will listen to my advice-- GET TESTED for colon cancer. It was painless, and if it is caught before symptoms arise, there is nearly a 100% cure rate.
The other big news is that I signed a lease for a new Dojo facility last week. It will be about twice the size of the one we're in now. It is located conveniently near the city square not far from the first dojo. We will be joined by Jack Bieler, sixth dan in Aikido and third dan in Jodo under Karl Geis. Mr. Geis was a student of Kenji Tomiki and Tsunako Miyake. Mr. Bieler is also a second dan in my iaido group, and he and his students are very welcome in The Dojo.
As soon as is possible, I'll get some picture up here of the new Dojo. I'd like to publicly thank all of the help all of the members have put into getting it ready for our first practice. more later...
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Wow, I don't know where summer went....well, actually, I do. It has been a VERY interesting, exhausting, productive, and, uh, busy 2 months..... hence, my lack of activity on this page. So, let's start. I'll report the events by chronological order. When you see the red link, please click on it for pictures of the events.
First, I drove down to San Antonio the last weekend of May to the San Antonio Sword Show. A large group of the Dojo's iaido group (10 I believe) joined me for a Sat. morning demonstration. It was interesting to see the breadth and depth of sword arts in Texas and to reconnect with Noshuiaido and Jodo man, Rick Polland. I was also pleased to get with ZNIR godan, Scott Irey, a fine swordsman. He performed an embu of his own and it was a joy to see him at his peak. It is always nice to see another ZNIR swordsman of such quality. Dr. Diane Mirro is to be commended for her efforts in organizing the demonstration.
Next, the iaido group again gathered in Dallas, this time at the National Anime (Japanese animation group) Festival at the DFW Airport Sheraton the first weekend of June. Despite being bumped back several hours and feeling as though our corner of Japanese culture didn't really fit the venue, all gave an excellent demonstration of this formal art. This is probably one of the few places that one can walk around in full Japanese costume with sword and not raise an eybrow... certainly an interesting cast of characters. Thanks to Charles Mahan for his efforts on our behalf.
Third, one week later, Gregg Weber and I drove down to Austin for a week of Uechi-ryu practice with the Shinjo family at Mike Nazar's Koshukai 2000. It was great to reconnect with old friends like Alan Dollar, James Foley, Kirby Dillar, Jim Hoover, and of course, Mike. But most of all, it was the first time I had seen Kiyohide Shinjo in about 4 years, the first time I had seen his brother, Narihiro Shinjo in about 10 years, and the first time I had seen Shuichi Shinjo, his son, since he was a baby on Okinawa about 20 years ago. This was also the second time I had met Shinyu Gushi. It was great to get together with the Shinjos again, and even more exciting for me to introduce them to my students who came with me to Austin. We had the largest group, represented by 12, and nobody came home disappointed with either the quality of instruction or the hospitality shown by Mike and his people to all of us. I had told them all that they would see "real karate" in Austin. They were not disappointed. The Shinjo brothers were both at the very top of their game in every area, and Shuichi Shinjo is developing into another generation of great Shinjo karate men.... he is the 4th. Training was very physical, pushing my old body to its limit, but I was pleased to be able to stay up with the young turks. I saw the shodan shiken, and was impressed as always with the spirit and heavy hitting involved in a Kenyukai test. The final demonstration put on by each dojo and the Shinjos was great, especially the Sanchin testing done to Shuichi Shinjo by his father. There were several wide eyes in the group as many had never seen such a fine demonstration of the power of Sanchin. Let it be known that "taking it to the edge, hard-hitting karate" is alive on this side of the Pacific. Thanks again to Mike Nazar and his Austin group for the great party and all of their hard work on our behalf!
Fourth, guess what, I needed a break, and my family needed a break.... so we packed up and headed down to Cozumel, Mexico for a week... my first time scuba diving (When I resurfaced, I was wondering if I could sell the house and buy a bar down there and.....) While I was gone, Hiroshi Tanida, eigth dan, Eishin-ryu iaido, visited Denton for a long Sat. morning practice with the Dojo iaido group. As usual, he was inspirational and giving in his visit with us. I'd like to publicly thank Susan Burke for making all of the arrangements for the visit. I am certain he had as good a time as the students did.
Fifth, a week and a half later I met 10 iaido students at DFW Airport and boarded an American Airlines flight bound for Tokyo. I had been working hard for the previous 6 months organizing the trip, and no small measure of the trip's success is certainly due to the efforts in Japan by Kogushi Osamu-sensei, eigth dan junhanshi, and Koshiba Kenji, seventh dan of the Chiba Yamashita Dojo. We spent one week in mainland Japan, touring during the day and practicing iaido (and partying) at night. It was my first time back to Japan in 10 years. It has really changed, but I was especially happy to see many old friends both in and out of the dojo who, in their kindness to me, had not changed one iota. We visited Asakusa Kannon, Nikko, and Kamakura... also a great morning at the new Edo Hakubutsukan (museum), which has a real life-sized model of ancient Tokyo (funny that my first car in Okinawa, a 360cc two (open from the front) doors, which I bought from Alan Dollar.. was in there!).... also an afternoon at the Tokyo Sword Museum... WOW...what a group of impressive blades. Also a trip to Kabuki-za. But, of course, best of all was training in iaido with my sensei, Yamashita Noboru. Due to back problems, he is unable to train, but his keen observation skills and ability to cut to the heart of technique, continue to make him a master teacher. I know that those of the Dojo who got their certificates of promotion from him will treasure that moment when he presented them theirs. I do have to make a comment about training in Japan. I had forgotten how terribly hot and uncomfortable it can get in July in Chiba. I was completely drenched in sweat, as I was for 10 years each and every summer. I was very cold in the winter months of training. Yet, I and every member of class worked as hard and as enthusiastically as if we were in a climate controlled environment. I think that training in such discomfort affects the students in positive ways. The concepts of gamam (patience) and gambaru (effort) are very deeply instilled in such and environment. I enjoyed my stay on the mainland and after one week, flew down to Okinawa with Gregg Weber for my first visit to Okinawa since 1980.
Finally, Gregg and arrived in Naha, Okinawa after a frantic bus ride and check in procedure in Tokyo..... to find the entire island in chaos caused by the G8 Summit and President Clinton's visit. Policemen lined every street, armed boats patrolled the beaches, and helicopters were above. The Okinawans had been urged to remain indoors and most businesses were closed... including the Shinjo Dojo. Sooooo.... things were already in motion to make this visit a little different. The highpoint of the trip to Okinawa was reconnecting with Peter Kellogg, sixth dan, and in my opinion, the most knowledgeable and talented Uechi-ryu foreigner on the planet. 7 years of direct study under Master Seiyu Shinjo and another 20 years under his son, Kiyohide Shinjo is very similar to another foreign student, Kambun Uechi in China. I'm proud to have studied with him in Austin for 1 1/2 years and call him, "Sensei". We stayed with Peter and got to know his great kids, Mathew and Anri. After being sick the first day, Peter, Gregg, and I went to a tourist village of ancient Okinawa, where the Shinjo Dojo performed several karate demonstrations throughout the weekend. I met a couple of Shinjo students, Steve Brigante and Dave Powell. (It was my pleasure to meet you, Steve and Dave). Their karate is very good, and it was great to see Peter in action again. I do have to say though, Dave, that my arm still hurts after your very hard swing of that 2x2 on my arm. Also, Shuichi Shinjo joined us and presented very strong karate. Gregg and I were in 4 public demos all total. Anyway, we all enjoyed getting with the Shinjos on their home turf, and were VERY proud that they were chosen to perform karate before the G8 leaders, directly in front of the Clintons (the President and Chelsea). We were hosted by Kiyohide Shinjo for sushi, karaoke, shopping at Shureido, and touring Shuri Castle.... and finally all enjoyed Peter Kelloggs new blues band, the Buzz Kings, and his brand of Texas Blues ala The Fabulous Thunderbirds. It was a great show.... thanks also to Hajime on guitar and Victor on bass. On the last night, Shinjo-sensei awarded me my fifth dan. I pledge to him on this public forum that I will constantly strive to represent him and his family well in both my karate teaching and in my behavior out of the dojo. Many thanks to both Kiyohide Shinjo and Peter Kellogg for making Gregg and my visit a memorable one.
Well, that's my "What I Did On My Summer Vacation" essay. It was long.... it was busy.... it was exhausting.... it was VERY interesting and productive. I think anyone in The Dojo classes since I have returned has noticed a definite increase in Dojo intensity.... thanks for a great summer to all and let's get back to work..... more later.
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